Teacher: One woman's struggle to keep the heart in teaching

(Paperback)

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'Gabbie's story needs to be shouted from the rooftops. She very eloquently shows us why and how education needs to change... Teacher made me laugh and cry. I loved it!' - Kathy Margolis, former teacher and activist.

Watching children learn is a beautiful and extraordinary experience. Their bodies transform, reflecting inner changes. Teeth fall out. Knees scab. Freckles multiply. Throughout the year they grow in endless ways and I can almost see their self-esteem rising, their confidence soaring, their small bodies now empowered. Given wings.

They fall in love with learning.

It is a kind of magic, a kind of loving, a kind of art.

It is teaching.

Just teaching.

Just what I do.

What I did.

Past tense.

In 2014, Gabrielle Stroud was a very dedicated teacher with over a decade of experience. Months later, she resigned in frustration and despair when she realised that the Naplan-test education model was stopping her from doing the very thing she was best at: teaching individual children according to their needs and talents. Her ground-breaking essay 'Teaching Australia' in the Feb 2016 Griffith Review outlined her experiences and provoked a huge response from former and current teachers around the world. That essay lifted the lid on a scandal that is yet to properly break - that our education system is unfair to our children and destroying their teachers.

In a powerful memoir inspired by her original essay, Gabrielle tells the full story: how she came to teaching, what makes a great teacher, what our kids need from their teachers, and what it was that finally broke her. A brilliant and heart-breaking memoir that cuts to the heart of a vital matter of national importance.

Reviews

"Gabbie Stroud has written a poignant book that explores her personal story of the good, the bad, the inspirational and inexplicable in the life of a classroom teacher. She was incredibly capable, passionate and committed - and yet she was eventually defeated by the forces of curriculum change, the pressure of incessant accountability and the disempowerment and disrespect that has impacted the teaching profession. Her story is becoming sadly too common and Australian children are missing out on a better education." - Maggie Dent, author of Saving our Children from Our Chaotic World

Author Bio

Gabrielle Stroud was a primary school teacher from 1999 to 2015. Now a freelance writer, her debut novel, Measuring Up, was published by Scribe in 2009. She is currently at work on her next novel.